Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

and if it were Jan or even someo ne else that called , I w ou ldn't go back. As a matter of fact, I had a ph one call from Europe the other day wanting to know if I wanted to come back. You know, people seem to th ink if you're not winning, yo u ' re no t h ap p y . I admit I've been through so me really tough times and have wo ndered 'What the heck am I doing?' But I'm having a good time and I believe I'm in Go d's will for my life. I'm in the right p lace, too. I know that I'm going to get to the top. If I couldn't see the lig h t at th e end of the tunnel. and I kne w I was never going to w in, I might consider going back, but I know that I'm going to get to the top. I do n' t regret thi s path. Well, there's a big di fferenc e b etween regret and ba d luck. I have h ad a lot of bad luck but a lot of it I brought on myself with silly mistakes and not being comp letely pre pare d. Bu t I've h ad qu ite a bit of ba d luck, I mus t be ho nes t. lf bad luc k were a country , Greg. you would be kin g. (Laughs). That's true. But tha t remark's out the window now and my luck from now on is straight up , going good. Are you still ha vin g fu n? Sure. You know, I'm 23 and I'm enjoying life. Th e Lord 's really been showing me that I must enjoy life every day, not just when I'm winning. but every da y. Now I'm just exci ted when I w ake up every morning . I look outside and I say, 'Wow, what a great day: I have so many great friends, and I really have a lot to be thankful for. I'm enjoying everything all the time now, not just when I'm w inning. so I can't imagine how great it will be when I start winning aga in. Wh ere do you w ant to b e when you r career is over? I' d li ke to have a house here and in South Africa , beca use they're in no rthern and southern hemisp heres, so I can spend a su mmer here and the n another th er e and ju st stay su mmer . Actua lly, the two houses w ould be my ultimate plan, and maybe get an import/export company going. Maybe racing cars. How m uch tim e are you sp en din g i n South Africa n ow ? Just about a m on th is al l. When I was racing in Eu rope it was tw o o r th r ee months a year, but now I'm lucky if I can spend a month there. How of ten does your family come ove r and visit? Once a year my mom comes an d once a year my dad comes. Th ey' ve also got their own lives to lead an d they' re pretty busy. But I'm a big boy now. I'm 23 and I've been living away fro m home for seven years now . When th e y do come it's great to have them, but I'm not really dependent on that. You 've missed a lot of b ig th in gs happ en ing ba ck in South Africa during tho se years, ha ven't you? Sure I h a ve. But I' m doing m y o w n exciti n g stuff. When I go home m y frie nds are ove r th ere d oing th e sa me old stu ff, same jobs and all, w hen I' ve just seen the w or ld. I h ave a lot to be thankful for. Is Jeremy McGrath even faster than people are thinking right now? Jeremy is good, there' s no doubt abou t it. But h e' s n ot unb e atabl e b e cause nob od y is. He' s reall y, reall y go od in every aspec t of racin g. He' s an incred ibly ta len ted rider and he's very confiden t righ t now. Th e th in g that m ight im pre ss m e m ost is h ow, ri ght n ow, even after he's won so m~ny races, he still keeps trying to win every race. The (s uperc ro ss) cha m pion shi p is in th e bag. but he somehow finds the motiva tio n to keep givi ng it 100 p ercent in (Left) The threet ime world champ hopes to change his luck at the outdoor Nationals, wh ich are ju st no w getting Int o f ull sw ing. (Below left) An all-tao-famlllar sig ht - Albertyn picking up his motorcycle. (Below) Despite suffering more than his sha re of crashes, Injuries and just pla in bad luck over the past year and a hall, the alwaysfr iend ly Albertyn has mainta ined his cool and sense of humor. every single race. I know that when I was winning myworld championships it was hard to rem otivate myself. I tak e m y hat off to Jeremy because he's motiv ated, and he doesn't do one thing wrong in a race. That's probably hi s stro ngest point. Everyone else is m aking little mistakes an d he' s m akin g no m ista k es . In a way h e ' s no t p ulling leads o n them, th ey ' re just d ropp in g back from their own m istakes. Whe n you ' re w inning. like he's been d oing for fou r years now in the 250 class .and six when you cou nt the 125 class, your con fid ence just ge ts so hi gh. I' ve experien ced it in '93 when I won my first 250 Wo rld Ch ampionship. You just cannot p u t a foot w ro ng. Everything goes you r w ay. If you have to d rop an ap p le on a blade it will fall exact ly in the middle. It doesn't fall left or right but right down the middl e. Wh e n y o u' re w in n in g everyth ing goes like th at . Jeremy' s got th at at the momen t. You h ave to give h im credit, b e cau se h e ' s s mart and w on' t tak e unnecessary risks. And he hasn 't had an ounce of bad lu ck. Maybe just winning like that is what keeps him motivated? It has a larg e p art to do with it, I'm sure. Do you thi n k Emig is too hard on himself? . If I had to take de feat that hard every race I would b e digging a grave for myself. lf you're in a good position to win and yo u have a good cha nce b u t still lose, then defeat is hard for anybody. But I'm still coming up in supercro ss . To have a fit about losing now would be silly . How do you get along with you r team mates Ezra Lusk an d Mike LaRocco? Very wel l. Th ey ' re bo th rea lly q u iet guys. You know, I actually use d to think that Mike wasn't a nice guy until I got into the team wit h him . Now he opens up a little bit, but he's still such an introvert th a t h e rarely speaks. You mi ght th ink its a rrogance comi ng throu gh at first, bu t he's really a nice guy, jus t very, very qu iet. . Ho w have the American fans be en treating you? . I'm really imp ressed with the amount of support I've got, and I've made a lot of friends ou t there. I thi nk th at a way to judge your popularity is when the fans s ta rt writing le tt ers in to maga z ines about you, and I just saw in an Ameri - I've gone through a tough time this year and last year just motivating myself. It might seem strange but when you're down in the dumps you just sta rt thinking to yo urself, ' How d o I ge t out of this? ' You s tart losing m otiv a ti on to train because it seems so useless. But then you do finally start to win again and it starts coming back. Wha t about Jeff Emig ? Even though he en de d McG rath 's streak, he seems to be completely the opposit e of Jeremy because, in the past, he's had a huge confi d en ce problem. He's the fastest guy aroun d but when he gets near Je remy on th e track he fall s down. There's much m ore to Je ff Em ig tha n meets the eye. He's a more complicated person than everyone thinks. Everyone says he goes out and p arti es a lot and all that and doesn 't really train, bu t nobod y can go out there and ride that fast for 20 lap s without training. They used to say th e sam e abo u t me in Europ e. I think Emig needs a race w in or two to get that con fide nce back so tha t he can ride with McGrath every wee k. I think he has the abili ty to do it. H ead-to-head it's d ifficu lt for anyo ne to be a t M cGr a th, but there 's more to racing than tha t. can magazine last week where someone wrote in and said how much he appreciated my efforts, friendship and hospitality. I liked that because it shows that they ' re not just one-track-minded towards Americans. They'll root for othe r riders. Wh a t abou t Ro g e r DeCos t e r, y o ur bo ss? He ha s a h ug e investm ent in you, repu tati onwise. Roger is really great to wo rk with, and it's a p ity tha t up until now I h aven ' t been able to give h im the resu lt s he wants to see . I ha ven't seen anyon e put in as much effort as Roger has to get a tea m together - he's bee n w orking h is butt off to help us . The whole team has ha d a lot of bad luck, so it's good to see Ezra and Mike getting on the podi um now in supe rcross. And hopefu lly I can help tum th at around in the ou tdoors. I'm reall y co ncentr a ting on br in gin g Suzuki a championship. So how do you feel about the 250cc National Championship? I feel good, an d I think that I'm a little bit bettered prepared now . I've seen all th e tra cks now a n d I k now wh at to expect. If I get .a good start (on the seal~ son) I think tha t I'll be okay.

• Cover